Hello Bob.
I suppose it was inevitable that I should be tempted into composing a rhyme on the subject of masks. - So, here it is!
Best wishes
Bill
A COVID MASK.
Before COVID, people would ask
why did I need to wear a mask?
They could not see the relevance
of this fashion preference.
For those who showed an interest
and those whose questions did persist,
I would take time out to explain
that it was not I was insane.
I had worked out, what knocked me back,
and brought about my heart-attack,
was from pollution in the air
and human beings did not care.
I wore a mask to protect me
from obnoxious activity,
which humans do to profiteer
whilst they pollute the atmosphere.
Those exhaust pipes on vehicles
spewing out their chemicals,
may-well be economical
but health-wise, diabolical.
So, as I rode my bicycle,
it seems to me unethical
not to count the personal cost
to those whose health and lives are lost.
There’s no excuse, now it is known,
and the scientists have shown
that air pollution’s onerous
apart from being dangerous.
When people saw me in my mask
it was my hope that they would ask
themselves the reasons for this thing,
then link it to the fumes they fling.
But then we had Covid 19,
and suddenly a mask was seen,
even with its imperfection,
as a potential protection.
This virus was a pollutant
to the human environment,
which meant, anxiety prevailed
and people wanted it curtailed.
The new exhaust was people’s breath,
inhaling it could lead to death,
then health was a priority
amongst human society.
It seemed that no expense was spared,
and even politicians cared
what happened to the populace,
and this was just miraculous.
For previously, rarely a thing
had been done by them to bring
pollution levels down to where
anyone could say ‘they care’.
But with Coronavirus they
began to worry and to say
that we should be protected from
this new type of virus-bomb.
And so, to stop it spreading round,
the humble mask, it seems has found
a new and welcome role to play
within the culture of the day.
My hope is that our rulers will
not overlook those things that kill
just as much as Covid did,
yet in the past have remained hid.
B. Withers 2020